Page 83 of Those That Defy the Realm

I look at the second message.

CLAIRE: And to Ash as well. If you don’t tell him, I will. I won’t let him live with a cheat.

My mind reels. Her words make sense in the abstract but in what false reality have I woken up to? Claire thinks I’ve cheated on her!?

Clutching the phone tight, I run my other thumb and forefinger over my brow, adding up the pieces and initially coming up with nothing.

Her scent.

I smelled her in Rory’s room this morning. Had Claire come to the ranch? Had she seen me sleeping beside her best friend and thought I’d done something to betray her?

Shit, shit, shit.

The blood I’ve just drank curdles in my stomach and I feel like retching. I realise how Claire has reached her conclusion. She’s human, her human experiences make it a very valid plausibility.

She doesn’t know the depths of our vampire bonds. How pack bonded can easily share sleeping space, especially when feeling vulnerable, like how us three were last night.

I’d rather cut my dick off than have sex with Rory. She’s pack. She’s mated. There is zero attraction there. Antares either, though from his lack of mention in her messages I’m not sure Claire saw the third vampire sleeping on the floor on the other side of the bed.

Just as I’m about to dial her phone again, the screen lights up with a video call. It’s Ash. I answer it in less than a second.

“What the fuck is going on, Henry?” Ash’s voice is nearly a growl, but I hear the fear underneath it, see it alight in his eyes.

“I’ve screwed up.” The weight of the last sixteen or so hours crashes into me with hurricane level force.

“How? I’ve just had a cryptic message from our female saying she’s on her way to the continent. Alone.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, what in the realm happened this morning? I’ve been driving myself crazy all night wondering when one of you was going to pick up my call so we can discuss the fact that Claire is an unturned vampire but then all I get is a vague text from her and no answer when I try to call her.”

I don’t think I’ve heard Ash this angry before. I hate being the cause of it and I want to fix it all immediately. “You know?”

“My mother is involved, of course I know.” Ash pauses like he’s reining in his wolf. All I hear is his deep breathing. “I’m guessing she didn’t take it well.”

“No, although Rory thought she’d talked her around. Did you say she was travelling to the continent?” A knot of worry forms in my stomach. Turned or not, now we know what Claire is, she really shouldn’t be travelling alone.

Before Ash can answer, Rory bursts into my room, Ty close on her heels. “Claire’s on a ferry to West Scotia.”

“How do you know?” I growl, getting really fed up with being on the back foot.

“Bree just called me. She said Claire called her really upset. Said she needed to get away for a few days. She’s on her way to Bree’s. Was she here this morning? Did you talk about her turning?”

“No,” I exhale slowly. “She must’ve seen you and I in bed together and left without waking us.”

“What?” Rory freezes, her pale complexion becoming snow white.

“I thought I’d scented her in your room when I woke up this morning. I thought it may have been from her spending so much time in there during the renovations. But I guess she came looking for me, found my room empty so went looking for you.”

“You were in bed with Rory?” Ash really growls this time.

“We’re pack.” I almost yell at the phone. I know he’ll understand the explanation. Not that he’d think I’d cheated but the jealousy of me snuggling up to another is clear in the fact his eyes are burning intensely through the screen. I offer him a further explanation anyway, and full transparency. “We got drunk last night after Claire didn’t take the news well and went home. We fell asleep in Rory’s bed. Antares was there too.”

“Fucking gods, my best friend thinks I betrayed her and slept with her boyfriend?” Rory leans back into her mate, a hand coming to her mouth in horror.

“Look,” Ty cuts above all of us. “I think we’re all caught up but the important thing is that we get to Claire as quickly as possible. Turned or not, she is technically a female vampire. And if we’ve figured it out, and we know Adicious figured it out, we can’t assume others haven’t.”

“Adicious knew about Claire?” Both Ash and I question.